On theories and actions
It's time to move beyond theory and into theories of action
I recently made the mistake of commenting that I had seen a lot of constructivist theory shaping some of the leadership literature. I say mistake because the ‘debate’ usually consists of (1.) people telling me that constructivism is a theoretical model, not a pedagogy and that (2.) it’s obviously a core part of teaching as it highlights the importance of prior knowledge, as though someone said this was not important. But I don’t buy for a second that constructivism doesn’t inform teacher values and pedagogy. Witness the way debates like this bring up emotional responses.
In discussions like this, my first impulse is to ask, why theory at all? We know a bit about how the brain works, and we have an understanding of prior knowledge and its role in forming schema. And the learning scientists - at least in the way I understand their practices - locate their understandings in terms of wetware and what it does, rather than within the purely theoretical. Yes, meaning is socially constructed, but for me this leans too heavily towards the blank slate theory where the social learning environment holds the key to imparting and absorbing new information. Under this theory, prior knowledge and personal experience hold the key. It’s all a bit ‘field of dreams’ - build the open learning spaces and they will come.
Some people out there consistently challenge my thinking, and researcher Sally Larsen is one of them. While I still believe that theory takes learning only so far (and that ‘so far’ is not far enough), I do think values inevitably shape our practices. This is effectively the iceberg of instructional leadership. We don’t know what’s beneath the surface until it’s potentially too late. Sally is right in that the ‘why’ reveals a lot. And with almost any teaching practice able to be co-opted under the constructivist banner, its justification as the basis of a theory of action is a bit undercooked.
A lot of instructional leaders adopt unifying messaging to signal a push for excellence that can often to inspire staff to do ‘more.’ There are two limitations of this kind of approach. While it’s essential to signal the need for excellence, I think you would be hard pressed to find a teacher who didn’t agree that education is a universal good. Does this diminish the importance of messaging? Does the message become so generic as to be meaningless? The second limitation is that beliefs and values differ vastly in relation to how the aim of education is to be achieved - even what the purpose of education is! These values manifest in classroom practices, and at the same time the majority of teachers are actually in collective agreement that quality teaching is of absolute importance. You can see the problem here.
Viviane Robinson has done some brilliant work in this area. On this discussion, she says,
While teachers’ reactions to change are important, the moral purpose of education requires leaders to avoid the assumption that such reactions are reliable correlates of positive impact on students1.
She recommends exploring teachers’ values when investigating theories of action. For example, a teacher could agree that ‘quality teaching’ or improvement is needed but revert to their belief system when it comes to classroom practice. Without dialogue about where these theories have come from and the values that underpin them, teachers might even outright reject the idea of changing their practice.
I probably won’t change my views on constructivism, but I have changed my views about theory. It does exist, it does shape teacher action and student learning, and rejecting it in my own practice doesn’t change the fact that it has an impact in the world. Bringing this discussion back to theories of action has, if anything, galvanised my thinking about constructivism, but possibly in a more productive way than my usual tendency towards absolutism and binary thinking. My question for constructivists now needs to be, ‘And then what?’
Robinson, Viviane M J. Reduce Change to Increase Improvement (Corwin Impact Leadership Series) (p. 7). SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.